Means for measuring grease



061:. 11; 1932. Y F, M 1,881,786

MEANS FOR MEASURING GREASE Filed July 19, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PatentedOct. 11, 1932 JOHN 3'. MALE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS me nor. 'unasuamecause Application filed July 19,

My invention relates to means for measuring grease such as is used inthe housing which contains the difl'erential gear mechanism ofautomobiles.

5 herein as a grease meter the device is adapted for use with othermaterials having the proper consistency such as various liquids.

In the drawings wherein I have illustrated one embodiment of theinvention:

Fig. 1 is a central sectional elevation.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a. section on the line of 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a Fig. 5 is a top view.

5 Figi 6 is a section on the line 6'-6 of Fig.

, an Fig. 7 is a sect-ion on the line 7 -7 of Fig. 6.

In the form illustrated, the device consists of a cylindrical block ofmetal having four cylindrical openings spaced equal distances from thelongitudinal axis of said cylindrical block and equal distances fromeach other. 2 Each opening or chamber has a piston therein carrying aroller at its upper end. A cylindrical. cam member is mounted above saidblock on a stationary shaft passing through a central opening in saidblock, said shaft 36 having a cylindrical enlargement at its lower enprovided with inlet and outlet recesses therein, communicating withports in said block leading. to the lower end. of each chamber below thepiston therein.

V The block itself is rotatable about said stationary shaft with theresult that when grease is forced through the proper ports beneathwhichever piston is in lowermost position, the latter is raised, and theroller abovesaid piston, being always in engagement with the camsurface, rides helically around said cam, thereby rotating said blockand bringing the next successive piston into position to havecommunication established with the incoming grease and thus be raisedalso. The upward movement of said first piston rotates the block about aquarter turn, the upward movement of the next piston rotates it anotherquarter turn and so on, the- 5 four. pistons insuring a completerotation.

Although referred to detail. a

1934 Serial No. 469,050.

As each roller rides down the opposite side of the cam, being forceddownward by the curvature of said cam and. the continued rotation ofsaid block, the ease beneath the corresponding piston is orced outthrough the outlet port into a tube or hose which discharges into thedifierential casing or elsewhere. A. train of gears, connected with apointer, and a counter are c erated by the rotation of said block and inicate the'ainount of grease passing through the meter. The device can beoperated in any position, but is operated most conveniently in uprightposition, i. e., with the dial on the top, and for convenient referencein describin the struc- 4 ture certain parts are designate as upper,lower, etc., these terms beingused in a. relative sense 0 ly.

Describin the device more in detail, a cylindrical lock 10, as shdwn inFig. 1, is rotatable about a vertical shaft 11, which shaft has acylindrical enlargement 12 at its lower end and a further enlargement 13below the same constituting what ma be considered a fixed base orsupport. An inlet ipe 7'5 14 is connected to an opening in one s1 e ofthe base 13 and an outlet pipe-15 is connected to the other sidethereof. Vertical openings 16, 16 communicate with said inlet and outletpipes 14 and 15 as shown in Fig. 1. These vertical openings are madepreferably by drilling holes in the block 13, the lower end of saidholes being closed by plugs 17. The upper ends of said holes communicatewith ports 18 and 19 in the cylindrical enlargement 12, as shown morefully in Figs.

3 and 4. Port 18 extends about a quarter of the distance around cylinder12. Port 19 extends more than half way around the same. These ports arebrought into communication with radial ports 20 in block 10 as thelatter rotates.

Assuming the grease is being pumped into the meter through pipe 14, itwill be seen from Fig. 1 that said grease is forced up ward throughright hand opening 16 and port 18 and thence through the right hand port20, beneath the piston 21 which is a cup-shaped member secured to acylindrical ;block 22 by a stud 23. A roller 24 is mount-- first pistondescribed, has reached its highest point about the end of the quarterturn, and is pushed downward during continual rotation 'of the block,thus expelling .the grease beneath it through the radial port 20, theoutlet port 19, the vertical passage 16 and outlet pipe 15.

The outlet port 19 is sufficiently large to insure communication withone of the radial ports 20 while the block is turning more than a halfturn, and thus as shown two of the cylinders may discharge grease throuh said port 19 at the same time and in fact t ree of them may bemomentarily connected with said port. The resistance encountered by thegrease, in and at the end of the pipe or hose 15 is considerably lessthan the pressure applied to the grease by the pump (not shown) to causeit to enter the meter through pipe 14, and thus the upper pressureagainst any one piston is considerably reduced as soon as the block hasturned far enough to cut off communication between the chamber belowsaid piston and the inlet port 16. Thus the difference in pressurebeneath a piston on one side of the meter and on the other side thereofis am 1e to insure a continued rotation of the bloc Each cylindricalblock 22 has an extension 26 at the upper end thereof adjacent to theroller 24 which extension fits within the cylindrical cam member 25 andthus maintains the roller 24 with its axis always radial with respectwith the vertical shaft 11, thereby causing the rollers to run smoothlyaround the cam whereas otherwise there would be a relative twistingmovement.

The rotation of block 10 is communicated to a suitable counter by member27' secured to the side of said block which rotates the radial arm 28,the outer end of which is forked to receive the upper end of said memherand which, in turning, strikes a dependmg arm 29 thus operating acounter 30. As shown in Fi 5, this counter is visible through an opening31 in the dial 32 on top of the device. The dial may have any convenientnumbering system thereon such as the one shown and a pointer 33 may beswung around the dial by means'of'the knurled handle 34 to indicate theamount of grease,- in pounds for example, which the purchaser desires.As the pump is operated to pump the grease through the meter, into adifferential casing for example, the pointer 33 is moved back to aeroposltion at which point the pumping isfstopped.

The pointer may be driven by any suitable gear train of which thefollowing is an example: Knurled knob 34 has a downwardly extendinsleeve 35 thereon with a gear 36 fixed to its lower end. This gear isdriven by a pinion 37 on a shaft 38 which shaft carries also gear 39driven by a pinion 40 on another shaft 41, the latter shaft carryinggear 42 driven by a pinion 43 which is fixed to and rotates with radialarm 28 pre-. viously described. Thus asthe arm 28 rotateswith the block10, the pointer 33 rotates slowly through the reduction gearingdescribed.

Provision is made for lifting the gear 36 from the pinion 37 in order toturn the pointer 33 by hand independently of the gear train. For thispurpose, it will be noted that the sleeve 35 may he slid up and down onthe spindle 44 which projects from the top of the shaft 11. A spring 45surrounds the sleeve 35 and normally holds' the latter in lowermostposition but it may be pulled upwardly by the knob 34 and turned toswing the pointer in a clock-wise direction, as viewed in Fig. 5. It isimpossible to swing the pointer inthe opposite direction because of aratchet 46 shown in Figs. 6 and 7, which ratchet is normally above thegear 36 and out of engagement therewith but which engages the' teeth ofsaid gear when the latter is lifted. With this arrangement it will beseen that it is impossible to defraud the customer by pushing thepointer back toward the zero position after it has been set and beforethe pump is operated or during the operation thereof, as the pawl 46prevents such reverse rotation when the knob and pointer are lifted, andthe engagement between gear 36 and pinion 37 prevents such movement whensaid parts are in their normal lower position, except, of course, thatthe pointer may be rotated slowly in a legitimate manner as the greaseis flowing through the meter.

As shown in Fig. 5, I provide also a second series .of numbers on thedial, running in the opposite direction to those previously described.The purpose of this is to permit a customer to be supplied with acertain amount of grease without knowing in ad- Vance just how much isneeded. -If the pointer is assumed to be at zero position, and the meteris operated to move said pointer in counter-clockwise direction over thescale, then the second series of numbers will indicate the amountof'grease put into the differential whenever the meter is stopped. Torestore the pointer to initial position, it must then be turned by handin clockwise direction to the zero position to properly indicate thenext transaction by operating in the manner just described. However, ifanother or subsequent customer Wishes a definite amount of grease, forexample, three pounds, the pointer is first pushed further in aclockwise direction to numeral 3 on the main scale, and when the meteris operated, the pointer moves backward as the pumping continues, untilthe pointer reaches zero position.

The meter parts are preferably enclosed in a cylindrical casing 47 asshown in Fig. 1,

having an upper cap 48 which carries the I train of gears and counterbetween itself and a disc 49 whereby this mechanismv may bereadilylifted off with the cap.

It will be understood, of course, that the description of a block havingfour chambers, four radial ports and an equal number of associated partsis merely by way of description of. the commercial embodiment of the.

I invention, as said invention is not limited to any particular numberof chambers and pistons. Neither is it desired to limit the invention bythe use of the terms upper, lower, radial, etc, in the description orinthe claims, such terms being used as a matter of convenience and in arelative sense, as the device may be operated in any position. Va-

rious other changes may be made in. the mechanism without parting fromthe spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention: LA measuring device of the class describedcomprising a stationary member having a port therein, a rotatable memberhaving chambers with ports which register with said first port one afterthe other, when said second member rotates, pistons slidable in saidchambers in said second member in a direction parallel to the axis ofrotation, a cam, and means associated with each pistonto engage said camwhereby liquid forced through the port in said stationary member, into aport in said rotatable member, will move the shaft, pistons movable insaid chambers in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation, rollersassociated with said pistons to engage said cam, said block having portsarran ed to establish communication between said st ports and saidpiston chambers as said block rotates, and indicating means actuated bythe rotation of said block.

A. In a grease meter, a stationary base, a cylindrical extension on saidbase and having inlet and outlet ports opening through the sidesthereof, said outlet port extending more then half way around saidcylindrical extension and said inlet port occupying, less than theremainder of the circumference, a block having a cylindrical openingfittin said cylindrical extension and having radia ports thereincommunicating with said inlet and outlet portsas said block rotates,said block having chambers communicating with said radial ports, pistonsmovable in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation in saidchambers, and means actuated by the moven I'ent of said pistons forcausing such rotation. i

5. In a grease meter, a central' stationary shaft, a block rotatableabout said shaft and having cylindrical chambers therein, pistonsslidable in said chambers in a direction parallel to the axis ofrotation, a cylindrical fixed cam mounted on said shaft, a rollerassociated with each piston, a guide flange associated with each pistonand projecting into said cylindrical cam to maintain said rollersthereon, and means for conducting grease to said chambers whereby saidpistons may be moved thereby.

.In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

J OHN F. MALM.

corresponding piston and rotate said rotata- I ble member with respectto said cam.

2. A measuring device, of the class described comprising a stationarymember hav ing inlet-and outlet ports therein, a rotatable I respondingpiston and rotate said rotatable member with respect to said cam, thelatter serving also to restore said iston to its initial position andthus expel said liquid through said outlet port.

3. In a grease meter comprising a stationary base with inlet and outletports therein, a stationary shaftextending therefrom, a block rotatableabout said shaft and having chambers therein, a cylindrical fixed cam onsaid

